


Bright

by Circus_Craze



Series: Bendy and the Ink Machine Fics [6]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Blood, Body Horror, Character Death, Gen, Gore, Heavy Angst, How Do I Tag, How to format?, Hurt No Comfort, Injury, Non-Consensual Body Modification, One Shot, Organs, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-10-12 13:15:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17468279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Circus_Craze/pseuds/Circus_Craze
Summary: Seeing Henry fire up a projector forces Norman to recall how he was turned into the Projectionist, what led up to it, and a traumatizing event that happened after.TW: Graphic violence, torture, character death, gore, organs (specifically a heart), heavy angst, and Joey (Who honestly is a warning of his own.)





	Bright

**Author's Note:**

> I was requested by @smilealways14inversions and an anon on Tumblr to write a fic where Norman gets turned into the Projectionist by Joey. It's as sad and awful as one would expect.
> 
> Also, I'm not sure how to format, and this story had some time skips, so I apologize if this isn't the best. If there's any tips you have, I'd be happy to hear them!
> 
> Anyway, as I mentioned above, this story has Graphic violence, torture, character death, gore, organs (specifically a heart), heavy angst, and it doesn't have a happy ending. Please be careful reading this.

Norman knew the question would come up eventually. It was an odd thing, what had happened to him, and he was certain that there would be curiosity eventually. Maybe his frequent nightmares would make someone curious, or maybe he’d finally crack and confide in one of his friends. It didn’t seem like any of them would ask. It was an unspoken rule that they didn’t, it seemed. However, one day, a question brought the memories back. 

It was on a spring day, thunder rumbling lowly on the distance as a storm was on its way. The dark clouds were rolling in, and as the rain seemed so close to falling, everything seemed on edge. Would the lightning crack across the sky, or would the dams holding back emotions crack first? It made Norman wonder, because Sammy was sitting beside him, unable to sit still as he bounced his leg and kept moving his hands. It seemed to catch Henry’s attention as well, and before the man could ask what was wrong, Sammy spoke.

“I…I can’t remember what I used to do before this. I was something, right? What was I? I can’t remember.” He sounded horrified. 

It wasn’t the first time something like this had occurred. It happened quite frequently. The ink had done something to them all, and in Sammy’s case, it seemed to have permanently messed up his past memories. He often forgot things in his past, and would relearn it, only to forget again.

“It’s alright, Sammy. You were the music director at Joey Drew Studios. You wrote the songs that were in the cartoons.” Henry reminded him. “Will watching them help you remember?”

Sammy nodded. “I think…I think it might help.”

“Alright. I’ll go get it up and running for you.” Henry got up to get the projector, giving the former musician a reassuring smile. Norman watched as Henry got the projector and sat it down. He was entranced on how Henry’s fingers threaded the film reel in. The familiar sounds of the projector beginning to play sounded, and that was all he could focus on. He could almost feel the weight still on his shoulders, and as he looked at the cartoon, his mind was elsewhere, remembering the day that everything changed for him. Forever.

 

…

 

“You shouldn’t do it. This is just going to make waves, and that isn’t a good idea right now.” Jack’s tone was worried as he spoke to Norman, unable to be heard by anyone else over the sound of the band playing. 

“You know I can’t keep quiet about this. This isn’t natural or right! Something horribly wrong is going on, and you know it too. All those disappearances…how everyone is acting weird, and even the chanting I heard from level fourteen last night. It all makes sense.” Norman said. “You can try to avoid it all you want, but you can’t deny this. You can’t pretend it all away.”

“I know, but all of this spells out trouble! Something crazy is going on, and I have a really bad feeling about it. We should just stay out of whatever it is. Keep out heads down and work.”

“Are you serious, Jack? You want to do nothing when all this is going on? You want to just hide in the sewers while people are dying?”

“You don’t know that people are dying! Besides, what else is there to do? If what you’re saying and implying is true, then we can’t trust anyone! If we go poking our noses places they don’t belong, or try to tell the police, Joey and the others will find out. If they are killing people, then they’ll kill us for sure. Besides, it sounds too crazy. If we try to tell the police, we’ll get sent to an asylum.”

“Not if we have proof. That’s what we need. Real, tangible proof.”

“You’re crazy, Norman. If you go knocking on death’s door, it will answer. I don’t want you to go missing too. We can just quit. We can get out of here and move on while we’re safe. Before everything hits the fan.”

“You can, but I’m not. I’m going to find out exactly what’s going on down there.”

“Norman, please. Don’t do it.”

“I’m sorry Jack, but someone needs to find out the truth, and that someone is going to be me.”

Jack begged him not to go, but Norman’s mind was set. He was going to find out exactly what was going on, and he was going to stop it.

 

…

 

Norman opened his eyes, groggy. He had a killer headache, and forgot where he was. At first, he thought he was at home. He let himself live in the illusion for a moment before reality came crashing down. He saw that the ceiling was wrong, and he was lying on a table instead of his bed.

“Ah, Norman. I was wondering when you’d wake up.” Joey’s voice sounded sickeningly cheerful. Norman tried to thrash around, but he was strapped down. “You won’t be escaping that easily. Especially not with your intentions to let our little secrets slip. You know, for being as smart as you are, telling us what you were planning was pretty stupid of you.”

“Let me go, Joey. You know that people are going to come looking for me! They’ll know what you did.”

“Oh, but that’s only if they find you, and trust me, they won’t be doing that. In fact, you’ll be so unrecognizable that even if they do happen to find you, they won’t even know it.”

“What are you going to do? Kill me like you did the others?”

Joey laughed at that. “You’ve gotten things horribly twisted. I didn’t kill anyone. I gave them eternal life. They’ll never truly die, because they’ll just come back over and over; again, and again, and again. I’ve finally done it, Norman. I’ve cheated death.”

“By turning everyone into abominations?!”

“No, of course not. They’re all works of art. Art that I made. My masterpiece. And since you’ve made it your mission to find out what I’ve been doing, then I’ll give you the full experience. You’ll get to be immortal too. Just like all of them. Then, after you’re dealt with, I’ll go tie up the loose ends. You must have talked to someone about this, since you were so convinced that they would show up to save you. Who is it? Sammy? Jack? You hang out with both of them. Which one is it, Norman? Who did you spill the beans to?”

“As if I’d tell you!”

“Well, there isn’t any way to know for sure, so I guess I’ll just have to do this to both of them, too. It won’t be hard, especially with how Jack frequents the sewers and how Sammy stays after hours. Why, with both of his friends out of the picture, I’m sure I’d be able to convince Mr. Lawrence to do the honors himself. He’d make a willing sacrifice, don’t you think?”

“Don’t you dare! When I get out of here, I’m going to-”

“You won’t do anything, because you aren’t getting out. In fact, you better get comfortable, because you have a really long and painful time ahead of you. I almost pity you, but you’ve been a thorn in my side for too long for me to do that anymore. Let me grab my equipment. Don’t go anywhere now, Norman. Oh, wait, you can’t. That’s right.” Joey laughed, the sound sickening. He stepped out of the room.

Norman could hear the sound of him dragging something in. From what he could see, it was a rolling table with a lot of painful and terrifying tools on it. One thing that stood out the most was the projector on top. If he moved his head, he could see a film reel too. 

“You know, it’s going to be quite humorous. You work with these everyday with your job, and now, they’re going to be a part of you. Forever. Let’s begin, shall we?”

What happened next was lots, and lots of torture and pain. Things were black, but when he came to, he couldn’t hear very well. He tried to scream, but all that came out was inhuman screeching. He could barely tell what was going on. All he knew that he couldn’t move, and then there was pain in his left shoulder. Lots of pain. Like flesh was being dug out. Why was this happening? What was hurting him?

“Now look at that. Without your head and other features, no-one can even tell that it’s you. All that’s left is putting you on level fourteen. Your new home. Nighty night, Norman.” There was a shocking pain, and everything went dark.

 

…

 

“He was going down here to investigate, and then he went missing. He wasn’t anywhere else, so he might still be down here.” A voice spoke. Norman turned away from the cartoons, listening quietly.

“Why would he do something like that alone? I’ve seen the crowd of people Joey has. If all of them are in a sort of cult, then there’s no way Norman could take them by himself. This was a death mission. Jack, what if we find his body down here? What are we supposed to do then?”

One pair of footsteps had stopped, and after the other voice spoke, the other footsteps that had been coming his way had stopped, too. “I-I don’t know. I guess we call the police. If we have evidence, they’ll look into it. I just hope it doesn’t come to that. Norman said he wanted proof, but not like this. Not with him dead.”

“Norman’s smart. He had tactics on getting the band to listen even when I couldn’t. The guy had plans for everything, so maybe he had one for this. Something for in case things went bad. He could be holed up down here waiting for us right now, right?”

“I hope so.” The footsteps resumed. Norman moved, the sound of his heavy footsteps echoing off the walls of the maze.

“Norman? Is that you?” He could hear footsteps rushing towards him.

“Jack, wait!”

A figure rushed into his line of sight. “Norman, oh thank-” 

The moments were a blur, but he remembers lunging, his hand going with enough force to tear into the man’s chest and pull out his heart. As he looked at it, surprised by the sight of red, he caught a moment of sentience. He looked at the man, who he remembered as Jack. The man let out a noise before falling, blood pooling into the ink.

“Jack!!!!” Sammy ran in, freezing at the sight of his best friend. “Jack…” He looked up at Norman, eyes widening. “Norman?!”

 

…..

 

“Norman?” The former music director asks the man sitting next to him. The shorts have long since ended, and he’s still sitting rigidly, looking at nothing at all. As if he’s not even there. “Norman??!” 

He’s lost in a nightmare, and no matter how much he tries, he’ll never be able to wake from it.


End file.
